Pipe bomb found on bike trail

OSP squad destroys device at Post Canyon trail head

Members of the Oregon State Patrol and Portland Police bomb squads destroyed a pipe bomb at the popular Seven Streams trailhead in Post Canyon Tuesday afternoon.

Hood River County Sheriff Matt English said deputies received a report from a county forestry employee regarding the device at around 1 p.m.

English described the device as being approximately 6 inches long and said it appeared as though someone had tried to set it off and that when it didn’t detonate, left it behind.

It was the second discovery of an explosive device in the Gorge in two days; on Monday, The Dalles Police collected a swastika-adorned plastic bottle with a fuse hole that a citizen found at 12th and Quinton streets.

Sheriff’s deputies cordoned off part of the busy trailhead for approximately three hours until bomb squad representatives arrived to disable the device.

English recommended that when a citizen comes across a suspected explosive device it is best to not handle it, keep everyone away and to notify law enforcement.

“The danger with these improvised devices is that they can be extremely unstable,” English said. “You can’t tell without some expert training if it is real or fake.”

English said that deputies were able to leave the scene around 4:30 p.m. The sheriff’s office will continue to investigate the incident through evidence collection and hope to identify a suspect. Possession of an improvised explosive device is a felony.

Bomb squad calls in Hood River County are a fairly rare event. English said the last instance he could recall was when someone detonated a pipe bomb in a county bathroom on Binns Hill Road last year.